Introduction to AIM

RNS Number:1823T
Cater Barnard (USA) PLC
12 December 2003



For Immediate Release                                           12 December 2003
                                                         

                            Cater Barnard (USA) plc
                   (intended to be renamed Griffin Group plc)

          Introduction to trading on the Alternative Investment Market
              Audited results for the year ended 30 September 2003

This statement should be read in conjunction with the full text of the Admission
 Document. Copies of the Admission Document are obtainable one month from today
 at the offices of Beaumont Cornish Limited, Georgian House, 63 Coleman Street,
                                London, EC2R 5BB


Key Points


* Cater Barnard (USA) plc, the holding company of the group,
  provides corporations, institutions and individuals world-wide with investment
  banking, financial advisory, brokerage and research services in the US and UK.


* Trading in the Company's Ordinary shares on AIM commenced
  today.


* 2,800,000 new Ordinary Shares have been placed with
  investors at 5p per Ordinary Share, to raise #140,000.


* The business strategy of the Group is to:


     - Build on its research based investment banking operations in both the UK
       and US;

     - Develop an industry leading research department to build brand awareness
       and improve investment banking deal flow;

     - Expand its investment banking teams in the US and the UK with a
       capability to execute both private and public market capital raising
       transactions; and

     - Further develop its focused brokerage operation providing a dealing
       capability on behalf of institutional and private clients.

* The name of the Company will be changed to Griffin Group plc to
  reflect more closely the Group's operations. The change of name is subject to
  shareholder approval, which will be sought at the Company's Annual General
  Meeting, which the Directors expect to hold in January 2004.


Adrian Stecyk, Chief Executive commented:-


" We are delighted to be listed on AIM, which respresents the next stage in our
strategy of building both our US and UK presence on the back of improving
markets"


Adrian Stecyk, CEO, Cater Barnard (USA) plc                    0207 448 1000

Roland Cornish, Beaumont Cornish                               0207 628 3396

Shane Dolan, Biddicks                                          0207 448 1000



INTRODUCTION

Cater Barnard (USA), the holding company of the Group, provides corporate
financial advisory services. The Company has two principal operating
subsidiaries, Griffin Securities and Griffin Securities (UK).

OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITIES

Griffin Securities is a member of the NASD and the Securities Investor
Protection Corporation in the United States. Griffin Securities was incorporated
in 1997 and maintains offices in New York, US. Griffin Securities provides
corporations, institutions and individuals world-wide with investment banking,
financial advisory, brokerage and research services. Adrian Stecyk, who founded
Griffin Securities, has extensive business management, investment management,
corporate finance, and engineering experience. Prior to forming Griffin
Securities in 1997, he co-founded Griffin Capital Management Corp. in 1989, a
registered SEC Investment Advisor.  Griffin Securities (UK) was established in
June 2001 and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority to
carry out investment business in the UK.

GRIFFIN SECURITIES' BUSINESS

Through its operating subsidiaries the Group's principal activities are
sector-focused research, investment banking and brokerage services.

Research

The Group's analysts seek to identify potentially undervalued, emerging growth
companies that have excellent management, sufficient cash in hand to achieve
their objectives and which have been largely unnoticed by other financial
services firms.

Once a research report has been issued, the Group usually distributes the report
electronically and by post to its proprietary database of institutional
investors. In addition, the research is made available on the Group's web site
and distributed through a number of financial news web sites including First
Call (www.firstcall.com), Reuters/Multex (www.multexinvestor.com) and
Datamonitor (www.researchsummary.com).

In addition to company specific research, the Group also issues industry
reports. Typically, the industry reports cover numerous companies and are
intended to reach a much broader investment audience.


The Group has mainly focused on bio-technology companies and over the last two
years has issued a range of specific reports on companies such as Cypress
Bioscience, Bioenvision, Netsmart, Bone Care International and Covalent. The
Group has also issued in-depth industry reports on selected areas including
AIDS, pulmonary drug delivery, fibromyalgia, leukaemia and breast cancer.


The Directors believe that quality, sector-focused company research helps build
brand awareness of the Group and increase its visibility in the marketplace. The
Directors believe that research will also improve the quantity and quality of
the Group's investment banking and brokerage transactions.


Investment Banking The Group's investment banking operations include capital
raisings, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate Financial advisory services.
The Group primarily focuses on direct private placements of capital for small
public or private companies with accredited investors. The Directors believe
that the Group is well positioned to capitalise on investment banking
opportunities, which are generated by its growing network of relationships with
companies and investors, including institutions, venture capital firms and
individual investors. The Group's strategy is to service smaller companies that
are currently beneath the minimum size threshold of the larger financial
services firms. The Group's investment banking engagements are typically for
companies seeking to raise between US$1 million and US$10 million. The Group's
fees are determined by the type of transaction, but usually consist of a cash
component of up to 10 per cent. of the funds raised together with warrants of up
to 10 per cent. of the transaction amount.

Brokerage

The Group's brokerage service enables institutional clients to purchase stock in
the open market and individual private clients to trade on-line or with a
broker's assistance. The Group intends to use its brokerage services to assist
companies, which have large block sellers with the objective of placing these
shares without adversely affecting the market price.

PROPOSED NAME CHANGE

The Directors propose that the name of the Company be changed to Griffn Group
plc to reflect more closely the Group's operations. The change of name is
subject to shareholder approval, which will be sought at the Company's Annual
General Meeting, which the Directors expect to hold in January 2004.

DIRECTORS

Stephen Dean, Non-Executive Chairman

Stephen Dean spent the greater part of his working life in the construction and
leisure industry. In 1977, he co-founded the Dean & Bowes Group plc, which he
left in February 1992. In 1993, he founded what became Dean Corporation plc (now
Lupus Capital plc) which was admitted to the Official List of the London Stock
Exchange in 1997. In 1998, he demerged some of Dean Corporation's interests into
Artisan (UK) plc, which subsequently listed on AIM. Stephen Dean continued as
Chairman of Artisan until 2002. Stephen Dean also developed interests in the
technology and financial services sectors and held directorships of a number of
publicly-traded companies, including Perthshire Leisure plc, IMS Maxims plc,
Envesta plc and Elite Strategies plc in London, and Dialog Group, Inc. in New
York. He is currently Chairman of Cater Barnard (USA) and of Cater Barnard,
which is also traded on AIM.

Adrian Stecyk, Chief Executive

Adrian Stecyk has extensive business management, investment management,
corporate finance, and engineering experience and was the founder of Griffin
Securities. Prior to forming Griffin Securities in 1997, he co-founded Griffin
Capital Management Corp. in 1989, a registered SEC Investment Advisor where he
was responsible for asset management and investment advisory services to major
institutions. He is also a director of Dialog Group, Inc. where he was also
interim Chief Executive Officer. Prior to 1989 he was vice president of a NASDAQ
company and a member of the technical staff at Charles Stark Draper Laboratory,
a technology research and development company. He is a NASD registered General
Securities Representative, Uniform Securities Agent and Investment Advisor,
General Securities Principal and an FSA approved person in the UK. He holds a
Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and a Master in Business
Administration from Boston University.

Chrystyna Bedrij, Director

Chrystyna Bedrij has over twenty years of experience in investment research,
analysis and strategy and is the Director of research at Griffin Securities.
Chrystyna Bedrij holds an MBA from New York University's Stern School of
Business where she graduated Beta Gamma Sigma and a BA in Economics from Vassar
College. She is a NASD General Securities Representative, General Securities
Principal and Uniform Securities Agent. At Griffin Securities, Chrystyna also
provides consulting and contract research services to individuals, companies and
institutions. Previously she was a consultant and banking adviser to Telcordia
Technologies, Corp., a subsidiary of Science Applications International
Corporation, a private company with sales of US$11 billion. Prior to Griffin
Securities, Chrystyna was Managing Director at Griffin Capital Management, an
SEC registered Investment Advisor, where she was responsible for research,
analysis and investments for private clients and institutional funds. Ms Bedrij
was a speaker at several conferences on topics that included: ''Business
Strategies for Value Creation'', ''IPOs and Value Creation'', and ''Valuations
and Venture Capital''.

David Gordon Maclean, Executive Director

Gordon Maclean joined the Board of the Company on 27 October 2003. He has spent
over 13 years in investment banking with a number of leading companies including
Swiss Bank Corporation, Smith New Court (now part of Merrill Lynch) and Robert
Fleming & Co. He specialised in the Scandinavian equities market and was
involved in several high-profile share issues and corporate transactions.
Between 1997 and 2000 Gordon Maclean was head of sales, covering the UK,
European, North American and Middle Eastern markets for Den Danske Bank in
London. More recently he co-founded two UK based businesses, providing property
related services to the telecommunications industry; TelcoSolutions Limited and
Six-AM Limited, and co-founded E-Face Limited, which specialises in non-surgical
cosmetic procedures.

DIVIDEND POLICY

In the short term, the Directors do not intend to declare a dividend but will
reconsider this as and when the growth and profitability of the Company allows.

REASONS FOR ADMISSION TO TRADING ON AIM

The Directors believe that the Admission will help to expand and enhance the
growth prospects of the Group and raise its profile within its target markets
both in the UK and overseas. The Directors believe that it may help to raise
funds, if required, from a wider range of financial institutions, which may
improve the liquidity of the Ordinary Shares, to the benefit of Shareholders.
Also, the Directors plan to provide incentives to staff through a share option
scheme, with the intention of both encouraging and retaining key personnel.

FINANCIAL RECORD AND AUDITED RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2003

                                           Years ended 30 September
                                               2003          2002         2001
                                              #'000         #'000        #'000

Turnover                                    657,353       383,829    1,388,861
Operating profit/(loss)                      41,574      (186,752)     712,048
Loss on fixed asset investments                   -    (1,419,457)     (38,215)
Loss on disposal of subsidiary                    -             -     (170,559)
Profit/(loss)on ordinary activities before   41,737    (1,619,082)     504,380
taxation

In the year ended 30 September 2003 turnover increased 71.3 per cent. to
#657,353 (2002: #383,829) as result of an increase in completed transactions in
the period. Administrative costs remained broadly flat at #510,031 (2002:
#453,548). Profit before tax and earnings per share amounted to #41,737 (2002: #
(1,619,082)) and 0.19p (2002: (8.27)p) respectively. Shareholders funds
increased to #951,554 (2002: #577,405). The Directors do not propose to declare
a dividend (2002: nil).

THE PLACING

2,800,000 new Ordinary Shares have been placed with investors at 5p per Ordinary
Share, to raise #140,000, which will be principally used to pay the cash
expenses of the Admission of approximately #100,000.  The new Ordinary Shares
will, rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares and will
have the right to receive all dividends and other distributions thereafter
declared, made or paid in respect of the issued ordinary share capital of the
Company.



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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